1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to agitation apparatus and, more specifically, to a self-supporting apparatus for repeatedly agitating an aerosol canister and methods therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Those skilled in the painting arts understand that paint must be thoroughly mixed prior to use. This is done to ensure that pigment that may have settled out of the liquid carrier is mixed therewith. Various apparatus are well known in the art for agitating relatively large paint cans, however, there is no known apparatus for agitating smaller, aerosol type paint canisters.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,318,622 filed by Sterrenberg provides an apparatus for utilizing a hand-held power tool for shaking a paint canister. There are several disadvantages to this concept. First, a separate, hand-held power tool is required. In other words, a user of this concept must purchase a separate, hand-held power tool in addition to the shaking apparatus. Additionally, if one needs to use the hand-held power tool for some purpose other than agitating a paint canister while the hand-held power tool is being used to shake a paint canister, then the user must wait until the shaking operation is completed. Also, the Sterrenberg apparatus must be held while in use. Thus, for the several minutes that it takes in order to properly agitate a paint canister using the Sterrenberg apparatus, the user must hold both the hand-held power tool and the apparatus, thereby wasting time because in the absence of such a limiting requirement, a user could be performing other work.
Therefore, there existed a need to provide a stand-alone, self-supporting apparatus for agitating aerosol type paint canisters.